Killing of seven people, 10 others injured: Mob set Dangote trucks ablaze in Ota

Pandemonium on Saturday at Tollgate along Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway, Ogun State as angry mobs chased Police, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) officers with stone, bottles and other dangerous weapons before seeting a Dangote trucks ablaze, believing to have caused accident that killed seven people while 10 persons suntained degrees of injuries on the road.

The irate mob blamed Dangote Group of Companies and Federal Government for higher responsibilities on the incessant loss of lives and properties along the expressway.

The mobs, while chanting, "No more Dangote cement trucks in Ogun road", blamed the company for employing underage and irresponsible and quack drivers who have little or no adequate knowledge of highway codes.

They said majority of the drivers are from Northern part of the country that could hardly read, write or neither translate highway codes, saying this made them have little or no respect for traffic laws.

Information Carrier gathered that the multiple crashes occurred as a result of speed competition between two Dangote trucks overloaded with cement, heading towards Lagos from Sango before one of it with registration number GN 5374-26 had brake failure, rammed into an LT bus (yellow colour) and trapped down all 17 its passengers.

The infuriated mob started stoning trucks sighted on the expressway, when some of the dead children on same identical dresses with their mother, believing both of them are heading to a party.

It took several hours before TRACE led by Area 4 Commander Adekunle Ariyo Ajibade, operatives of Ota Unit Command of FRSC led by the Commander Ganiyu Akeem and Sango Police Command led by the DPO Monday Idegbai with the assistance of sympathisers to rescue the trapped victims and restore normalcy in the area.

The FRSC official report claimed that seven people, including children trapped in the accident have been taken  to the mortuary in Ifo, while eight critically  injured victims were rushed to the general hospital,  Ota for treatment.

It said: "This morning, February 15, 2020, at about 1135hrs, a fatal crash involving multiple vehicles occured along the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway around the old tollgate, Ota which has led to the death of seven persons. Rescue Operation is still ongoing .

"The crash involved  a Dangote truck conveying cements, a space wagon and a volks wagen yellow coloured passengers  bus.      

"Irate mob protesting the incident have set ablaze the  Dangote truck suspected to have caused the fatal crash 

"FRSC,TRACE and Police are still at the scene  managing the incident and has contacted the Fire Service to extinguish the inferno to make rescue operations faster.

"The crash involved a total of   17 people made up of six Male Adults, two female children, eight female adults and one Child.

"Vehicles involved were three comprising a Dangote Truck Ashes coloured with no registration number, Volkswagen LT Yellow Bus LSR128XP and a white coloured  Sienna bus APP122CD

The suspected causes were reckless driving, excess speeding and mechanical deficiency suspected to be brake failure 

"Total number of people killed  were seven made up of  two male adults, three female adults and two female children, 10 critically injured made up of four male and six female adults.

"The injured victims were rescued  to Ota General Hospital, while the  corpses of the dead  victims were deposited at the Ifo General Hospital Morgue in Ogun State.

The Ogun State FRSC Sector Commander, Clement Oladele, Commander Ajibade and Sango DPO have commiserated with the  relations of the victims and  again warned that the area the crash occured is a black spot notorious for frequent crashes, which has  claimed several lives in the last five years  and called on motorists especially articulated vehicles to drive cautiously whenever using that section of the corridor.

They also advised pedestrians to desist from turning into mobs and  resorting to self help by wilfully  destroying public properties or accidented vehicles, irrespective of the level of provocations , as there are standard ways of handling and reporting griviancies to appropriate law enforcement agencies.

The rescue team of TRACE, FRSC, and police immediately hired a towing crane to first lift the Dangote truck before evacuating the victims some of who were already dead and others critically injured.